Thanks for your kind words about INDIA AUTHENTIC #1 / GANESHA. I am the writer of the series and please do check out INDIA AUTHENTIC #2 / KALI which is a lot more action-oriented than the Ganesha story.

My goal in the Ganesha story was to tell a tale of a benevolent God and how he came to be. I hope I have succeeded in that.

Thanks again.

regards
Saurav Mohapatra
http://www.mohaps.com

I didn’t find Countdown offensively bad, as Graeme over at Savage Critics did, but I did find it pretty damn boring.

That said, it was cool to see all the bits hinted at in both mini series but it seems like the ad in the front told more about why this was made…as a lead-in to a crossover with the “real” Marvel Universe. Which almost kinda defeats the “there will never be a crossover between Ultimate and Mainline Marvel U” mantra, almost. Yeesh.

I know it isn’t a #1, but I think NOVA was the book to beat this week. Sadly, it didn’t quite meet the promise of the cover (oh, we can only hope but I think Hulk will have that honor) but Richard/Nova does more to boil down the ridiculous situation of the Civil War in two pages than any amount of fan griping or, well, a million Civil War spin offs. The dialogue between Tony and Richard, in an effort to “recruit” him, was actually cool. This new Nova series is turning out to spin nicely out of the promise set by Annihilation. His scenes at home reminded me of the original Jean Grey’s visit home after becoming Phoenix. A nice touch.

Oooh…and bonus free comics, too. As predicted, he had laid out a bunch of leftovers. Sadly, the Peanuts comic wasn’t among them (I totally missed it in the FCBD piles!!).

**SPOILERS**

Magneto mentions him and the Acolytes made a “deal” with whatever caused the plague, Tony says it came from another dimension, Doom says Latveria is “immune” to it, and Reed says it’s “evolution”. But NO ONE ever says what it actually is. ARRGGHHH! I found this a little frustrating too.

** END SPOILERS **

And It’s not just Kirkman. Reed Richards has done something psycho or completely out of character in almost all of his appearances as of late. When was the last time anyone even referred to him as “Mr. Fantastic” in a comic. I miss when Reed used to be a HERO.

All in all I have to say I enjoyed it though, especially Sean Phillip’s Art, and the tons of cameos. That 2 page panel in the middle with 50+ heroes ranging from Sleepwalker to Scarlet Spider was a real hoot!

Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but didn’t the Monitor sorta suggest the same thing? That Jason is an “anomaly”?

I actually don’t think you’re reading too much into it, since Jason Todd is anomaly…which is really what I should have said. I have no problem with the Red Hood as a character, my beef is that it’s Jason Todd. If it was anyone else, I’d be fine with it.

But like I said, I really enjoyed the issue. It was a good hook for a story that has many avenues to travel and I’ll say it again, it’s got Darkseid. That’s all I really need to know at this point.

Countdown I just thought was dull. Which is a shame, because conceptually I find it more interesting than 52. But we’ll see.

Hack/Slash was pretty good. Also worth reading: Thunderbolts, Nova, Immortal Iron Fist. Big disappointment: Salvador.

Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but didn’t the Monitor sorta suggest the same thing? That Jason is an “anomaly”?

Pretty great kick-off - not quite a home run, but honestly more exciting than I was expecting, with a good balance of character-driven stuff and tantalizing hints at things to come. It seemed a bit less manic than 52, which is good - much as I liked the last issue of that series, it was pretty convoluted. If they can keep up the pacing of this issue through the rest of the run (and here’s hoping Dini applies some of his TV-writing experience to that end), then Countdown has the potential to be one of DC’s best superhero books.

One question: Wasn’t Giffen supposed to be doing layouts for this? Honestly, I actually kinda liked that he didn’t - while Giffen did a fantastic job providing artistic cohesion on 52, Saez’s layouts gave Countdown a different feel, which was nice.